The NewSpace Community Urges the Country to Continue to Push Forward

(Silicon Valley, CA) The Space Frontier Foundation’s thoughts and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters on the SpaceShipTwo and Orb-3 teams, following the recent events. The NewSpace Industry is a tight-knit community, and we are in mourning over the SpaceShipTwo accident and the launch failure of the Cygnus CRS Orb-3 Mission.

However, like the early aviation industry, the Space Frontier Foundation has confidence that commercial spaceflight will learn from these terrible failures. As the technology and methods are refined, we will see reliable and robust spacecraft, much like the safe aviation industry of today.

“These brave pioneers, like the pilot who lost his life today, knowingly do this because they want to expand humanity’s horizons, no matter the high risk that is inherently involved,” said James Pura, President and Director of Space Frontier Foundation. “We respect those of us willing to pioneer the unknown and challenge what’s possible. It is innately human to reach for new heights.”

We wish the Orb-3 and SpaceShipTwo teams the best for the future and hope for a speedy recovery of the surviving pilot.